Everything about the towering Gabite, from his wide grin, his glistening eyes, and even the way his towering stature was impressively illuminated by the surrounding torchlight seemed to exude waves of cold, callous confidence as he continued to tower over the pair. Even the furious glint of the bright blue badge attached to his crimson scarf seemed to make him all the more imposing. Aiden countered with an equally bold scowl.

'Whadda you want?' Aren't you supposed to be off basking in your father's shadow or whatever?"

Alpha's gaze remained steady, his expression unchanging. "I was in the process of being the first to find that Mythical, but just so happened to stumble upon you guys yelling up a storm and had to witness your latest failure. I gotta say: seeing you three embarrass yourselves like this? Priceless. I'd trade a hundred mythical encounters for a chance to watch you three blunder your way into even more trouble."

Rin rolled his eyes and waved his paw dismissively. "Just go away. Nobody cares what you have to say."

'Shut it!'rang a voice from behind, "I don't want to hear anything from a filthy deserter like you!" The trio turned their heads to find the familiar ringed eyes of a Gliscor angrily staring them down, a crown of scars adorned on her head. Rin let out yet another groan.

"Ugh, Charlotte." Rin muttered, "As subtle as ever, I see."

'Can it!' Charlotte angrily continued, "How could you have the nerve to say anything after just... leaving?! Boss gave you a generous opportunity to actually make something of yourself in his prodigious team, yet all you ever did was pout, complain, then leave without a word of warning! You're nothing but a coward, a child!"

"You're calling me a child? You, who needs Alpha's word of approval in order to take a breath? Give me a break."

"Why YOU-"

"Hey, don't bother with someone like him," Alpha ordered, resting a talon onto Charlotte's shoulder before turning to Rin with malice-filled eyes. "Y'know, I'll never understand why I ever allowed myself to associate with someone like you. All those screaming fits, all the effort it took to make you do anything I told you, all the years you've shaved off my life, and for what? A pathetic, bumbling drunk who wears a nihilist mask to cover for his own insecurities. I look at you, and I see nothing- no purpose, no reason to go on. You're an empty husk, just waiting around to die."

'Hey!' Aiden angrily interjected to Rin's wide-eyed surprise. "Leave him alone, you arrogant... self centered-"

Alpha swiftly turned his head towards the livid Scorbunny. "Oh yeah, sure, call me self-centered. You think I haven 't heard about that incident involving that Gigalith a few months back? It's common-sense to take missions that're within your league... lest your teammates take the full brunt of your stupidity. What would've happened if Rin hadn't saved your ass that day? You and that Meowth'd both be dead, all cause of your actions."

Aiden was instantly silenced, her hostility replaced by a crestfallen expression as she cast her gaze downwards. Trevor felt the urge to speak up for the first time in minutes.

"Please," he pleaded, "Just leave us be."

"And then there's you," Alpha scoffed indignantly, "Almost forgot about you given how insignificant you are. Why should I even waste my breath speaking to a weak, pathetic specimen like you?"

'I-I'm not weak!' Trevor found himself shouting, "I've grown stronger since we've last met! You've heard about how I helped take down that Gigalith, didn't you?!

"Did you really help to take down that Gigalith? Or did you just rely on your little entourage to bail you out while you just flailed around on the ground, gasping in desperation for someone to save you once again?"

Trevor remained completely speechless as Alpha continued.

"You're a leech. A parasite. All you do is stand around in the sidelines, feeding off of the efforts of other, more competent Pokémon." Alpha turned to address the entire pair. "...So this is the great Team Spirit, hmm? An honor-less husk with no loyalty, an egotist who uses others to further her own benefits, and a useless parasite who relies on others for everything. You three're not even worth looking at, let alone fighting. The Supernovas have better things to do than converse with low-rank trash like you."

With that final declaration, Alpha turned his back towards the trio while beckoning Charlotte to follow. With an exaggerated strut, the crimson-scarf pair slowly disappeared back into the darkness as Team Spirit continued to stand in silence, the flicker of the surrounding torchlight beginning to crescendo into a deafening roar.

-

"Hey Aiden," Rin muttered after several minutes of silent walking following their encounter with Alpha's team.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry."

"You're...what?" Both Trevor and Aiden wheeled around with dumbstruck expressions plastered across their faces.

"I'm sorry for ignoring both you and Trevor when you only had the best interests of the team in mind. It was childish of me."

Aiden crossed her arms awkwardly. "Well, I'm suppose I'm also sorry for going nuts and screaming back there. There were better ways of handling things than losing my temper."

"I just have to ask," Rin inquired, "Why'd you defend me while Alpha was going off on his little speech? Given how I was acting earlier, didn't you feel like I was getting what I deserved? That I wasn't worth defending?"

Aiden's answer came instantly: "...I just couldn't agree with what he was saying. I mean, he called you an empty husk, didn't he? I don't see that at all- sure, you're pretty standoffish at times, but I can just tell that you're a good Pokémon. I saw it when you trained Trevor, and I even see it now."

Rin shone a rare smile, the ends of his mouth reaching the corners of his thin face. "Don't let what that idiot said get you down- he's dead wrong about both you two. Especially you, Trevor- I'm pretty sure he knows that you're a lot more capable than he lets on, despite you being a Meowth. He's scared of you- I'm sure of it."

Both Aiden and Trevor returned Rin's unexpected (and slightly unnerving) smile with glee, the trio momentarily basking in this newfound sense of comradery, before their moment was abruptly interrupted by the distant sound of metal being pounded. Upon making a few turns, Trevor gasped in horror at finding a familiar Aegislash barely holding off a blank-eyed Machamp using his now battered shield.

'Percival!' he shouted frantically.

'Ah! We -ngh- meet again!' the Aegislash grunted as the Machamp relentlessly pounded his shield, "Don't let this -agh- seemingly dire scene fool you- this is just about the time where I make a brilliant reversal to come out victorious! You -ack- you three can just stand back, as I have this situation in complete control!

'It sure doesn't look that way to me!' Aiden responded urgently, "You clearly need our help!"

"Nay, fair lady! Do -ack- my words fall upon deaf ears?! I said that I don't need-"

With a resounding clang, the Machamp managed to knock Percival's shield away with a powerful uppercut. The Aegislash swiftly shut its eye in panicked anticipation as the crawler shoved its arm at a sideways angle, taking aim directly towards Percival's golden, metallic body. Right as its fist was seconds away from decimating its mark was when Trevor nimbly swooped in to intervene, his giant claws glistening a pale white. Although he managed to successfully parry the crawler's punch, the sheer force of the impact sent him flying backwards straight into a nearby wall, a dull thud echoing throughout the corridors. Aiden attempted to follow Trevor's attack with a barrage of kicks, yet was quickly interrupted by one of the Machamp's trunk-like arms grabbing onto her leg and raising her into the air. Only a well-placed slash from Rin's blades was what prevented the crawler from splattering Aiden onto the stone floor. As Rin attempted to land another blow, the Machamp was able to block both swords using two of its iron-skinned palms and managed to hurl one of the scalchop-blades aside.

'Oof!' Aiden grunted upon breaking free from the Machamp's grip and crashing onto the ground. "This thing's impossible to approach! We can't hold it back for much longer!"

Trevor shut his eyes and began rubbing his temple, furiously assessing his options. "It's no use targeting it's body while it has those arms," he eventually shouted, "We have to target the legs instead!"

Fumbling into his satchel, Trevor managed to nab a gnarled Blast Seed, pop it into his mouth, then shoot a violent stream of billowing flames directly onto the crawler's toned legs. With a horrible screech, the Machamp was sent stumbling backwards and crashed onto the floor. Any attempt at getting back up was interrupted by a Flame Wheel to the arms, allowing Rin to propel himself into the air and plunge his remaining sword into the crawler's heart. Its hulking body was reduced to a mound of dust in a matter of seconds as the trio breathed a sigh of relief.

'Are you okay!?' Trevor asked a silent Percival, his body slumped and motionless on the ground.

"Y-yes. I...thank you, friends. It looks like I've bitten off way more than I could chew, as per usual."

"You don't even have a-," Trevor mumbled before abruptly stopping himself, "Aaanyways, you ought to be more careful! You could have been killed had we not been here to help you."

Percival hung his head ashamedly. "Yes...I should have known that I wasn't strong enough to be trusted with such a pivotal mission. I was sent here by Jett to ask this supposed Mythical for some vital information, so I may have been a tad overambitious. I have this dream, you see... I wish to rid the world of all evil."

Aiden raised her head in silent awe as Percival continued, "Alas, despite countless hours of training, I'm still too weak. How can I reach the likes of Master Jett or Zephyr when I can barely take on a Level Seven on my own?!"

"Aiden grabbed onto Percival's arms and gazed into his eye, her pupils shimmering through a glaze of tears. Don't say that! Just keep chasing your dream, and it'll surely come true! Right, Treph?!"

"Uh, that's right! You just need a team that you can depend on, one that can have your back when the going gets tough. Right, Rin?"

Rin could only offer a befuddled shrug.

'You're right!' Percival loudly declared nonetheless, "I just need to find a team who's just as eager to exact justice as I am! Of course, how could I have not seen that sooner?!" He turned towards the trio excitedly. "Many thanks, seldom many Pokemon have been this supportive to me! I may not be able to accomplish my mission today, but thanks to you, I'm one step closer towards realizing my dream!"

Even as Aiden beamed proudly, Trevor shuddered in anticipation even before Percival had a chance to utter his next sentence:

"No human will be able to escape my blade!"

Both Aiden and Trevor simply stood in stunned silence once again as Percival happily floated away into the distance. Only Rin seemed non-fazed by the implications of Percival's final utterance as he stood up, picked up his discarded scalchop, and began continuing onwards.

"C'mon already! That mythical isn't going to find itself, is it?"

One by one, both Trevor and Aiden slowly picked themselves upwards and forced themselves to shuffle forwards, the space separating them from the walls seemingly growing smaller with each passing step.